Echoing Green Fellowship

The Echoing Green Fellowship gives early-stage social entrepreneurs US$100,000 over 18 months, plus leadership development, wellbeing support and lifelong membership of its Fellow network. It is open to founders anywhere in the world, India included.

Applications for the 2026 Fellowship are closed and no date has been announced for the next round. This page records the terms and the eligibility bar so you can prepare — the application window is only about three weeks when it opens.

Echoing Green has run this for over 35 years from New York. Fellows work across education, climate justice, human rights and health. Van Jones was a 1994 Fellow; Rohit Malhotra, founder of the Center for Civic Innovation, was a 2015 Fellow.

The money, and the catch worth understanding

A stipend of US$100,000 spread over the 18 months. But read this line carefully if you are building a company rather than a non-profit:

Funding offered to for-profit organizations is in the form of recoverable grants.

A recoverable grant is not a gift and not equity. No shares change hands and no one takes a board seat — but the money can be repayable, typically if the venture succeeds. If you run a for-profit, treat this as capital with a potential obligation attached and get the recovery terms in writing before you sign. Non-profits receive it as a straight stipend.

Who can apply

This is a fellowship for the founder, not a cheque to a company, so most of the bar is about you:

• You must be an original founder. Either the sole founder, or a leading member of the original founding team. Joining later as CEO or Executive Director does not qualify, and nor does being a board member or advisor.
• You must be the primary decision maker, with ultimate authority over the organisation's growth and strategy.
• Full time, 40 hours a week, for all 18 months. You may hold other professional responsibilities, but this has to remain your main professional priority.
• 18 or older by the start of the Fellowship.
• Proficient English. All programming and support is delivered in English. They make reasonable accommodations for visual, hearing and speech impairments.

And about the organisation:

• Early stage. Their rough description is an organisation that has either operated with full-time staff for under five years, or still needs resources to grow and sustain itself. Note the "or" — if you already have a defined programme model, strategic plan, payroll, staffing plan, funding sources and an active board, you may be past the stage they fund. If you don't have all of those, you are likely still in scope.
• Independent. No parent organisation with decision-making authority over you. A fiscal sponsor is fine, provided it has no authority over your work or decisions.
• Not primarily a lobbying organisation. US IRS rules stop Echoing Green funding organisations whose main purpose is lobbying — meaning support for specific candidates, parties or named bills. Issue advocacy through civic education and public campaigns is not lobbying and is fine.
• No faith recruitment. The organisation cannot work to recruit, promote or convert people to a specific religion. Having a spiritual element, or working alongside faith communities, is fine.
• No repeat Fellows. Nobody on your founding or leadership team may already be an Echoing Green Fellow.

What you get beyond the money

• Leadership development — a structured programme to build the skills and strategy to make the idea work.
• Wellness and wellbeing support, including self-care workshops built specifically around the strain of entrepreneurship. This is unusually explicit for a funder.
• Expert resources — the programmes team connects Fellows to experts and opportunities based on what they need.
• Convenings, virtual and in person, across Fellow classes and regions.
• Pro-bono professional support to build organisational capacity, plus introductions to business leaders working on social change.
• Lifelong membership of the Fellow community.

How they choose

Three stated rules guide the search, refined over three decades:

1. Seek out overlooked places — they prioritise leaders and communities less likely to reach traditional investment.
2. Include all kinds of talent — across ethnic, gender, religious and economic backgrounds.
3. Evaluate potential in new ways — in their words, "Fellows are more than their business plans", so they look past benchmarks like previous financial success or a business school degree.

For an Indian founder without a Stanford MBA or a warm investor network, that third rule is the point of the programme.

The process runs: applications submitted during the open window → reviewed and scored by expert reviewers, with insights shared as you advance → finalists interview with expert panels and appear in the Talent Report → Fellows notified and onboarded.

Writing the application

Their own guidance, worth following closely:

• Start early. The window is about three weeks. Applications must arrive before 2:00 PM ET on the deadline date, and they warn against leaving it to the last day.
• Explain why you. They want your personal connection to the community and the issue — what inspired you to take this on and why you are the right person.
• Be concrete. Many applications stall because answers are vague. If you have no results yet, that is acceptable — walk through your goals and how you would measure them, with examples and numbers rather than generalisations.
• Plain language, no jargon. Assume the reader knows nothing about your field or industry.

Offline worksheets, sample questions and answers, the selection criteria and video submission guidance are all published on the application page, and a webinar recording covers how to strengthen an application.